Just the random thoughts and reviews from an interesting mind.

Tag Archives: Ruby Barnhill

Hello my friends! Today I have a movie review for you of something that I am not outraged over. *shocker!* It is the movie The BFG. Oh and:

SPOILERS!

The movie starts out showing an orphanage and a little girl named Sophie who is wandering around in a blanket late in the evening. Everyone else is asleep, except the head mistress who moves around occasionally through the house. She locks the doors, and sorts the mail while everyone is asleep around her.

She makes her way up stairs and into the room where the children sleep, so she can sit on her bed and read; while she is covered in her blanket. She hears a noise outside the balcony and sees a trash pale overturned in the street, and a big hand moving to set it right.

She runs back into the room and hides under her blanket, only to be taken by the creature with a big hand. Who she later learns is a giant. Throughout the first stages of the story, we learn that the giant is a nice fellow, and he explains that since she saw him, he had to take her to Giant Country which is located in a hidden area of England.

He, the BFG (Big Friendly Giant), is the keeper of dreams who then distributes them across the human world (at least this is how it seemed. More about this later.) You are then introduced to the meaner side of the Giant Country. The other giants are a lot bigger than the BFG and treat him like a loser and a failure to Giant Kind.

The BFG then takes Sophie with him to where he gathers his dreams. It is a huge tree that is swarming with different color lights. Sophie begins chasing them and catches a golden one that the BFG explains is a very special one, one that he rarely sees and he explains that it is her dream. She then catches a red one, that turns out to be a bad dream shaded with red. He takes it and locks it away before explaining that it is a nightmare.

Then the BFG and Sophie go back into London and give a child a dream before they hear the sounds of the other bad giants. Sophie sets up a plan that brings the Queen of England into the picture. They give the Queen a nightmare that shows what is happening to the children in London that have been disappearing and that Sophie will be sitting on her window sill to introduce her to the BFG. The Queen wakes up to tell her dream to who I assume is her helper or something. The helper is shocked because the paper that the Queen hasn’t read shows the disappearances and as the Queen is telling the names of the giants, she forgets one and a small voice from the window says the name. That is when they find Sophie.

She explains that it is all true, and then introduces them all to the BFG. They then come up with a plan to keep the bad giants out of their land. The BFG and Sophie give the giants nightmares that causes them to feel guilt and remorse, only the worst giant woke up too soon. Bloodblotter (the big meanie one) goes on a rampage only to be caught by the Royal Airforce who the BFG had brought into Giant Country. All of the bad giants were then taken to a very remote island surrounded by water (which they hated) that was completely isolated and left with only the seeds of a nasty cucumber type vegetable.

Sophie was then adopted by the Queens helper, and every morning and night she would say out her window “hello” to the BFG who heard her, even so far away.

Now that I have gotten the story out, I will give my input and some factoids about the whos and whatsits.

The movie was based off the book “The BFG” written by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake in 1982. The story was a huge success with more than 40 million copies sold world wide. It was dedicated to Dahls daughter, Olivia, who had lost her life in 1962 at the age of 7 by contracting the disease Measles Encephalitus. Through his heartbreak, this story was born.

It was later brought to the screen as a TV adaptation in 1989 with David Jason as the voice of BFG and Amanda Root as Sophie. There has also been theater performance. But it wasn’t until 2016 when it landed in the hands of Steven Spielberg that I learned about this story. The screenplay was written by Melissa Mathison and stars quite a few good actors. I shall list them below that way they do not take up all the space here.

Now for my thoughts.

This story was beautiful and I can honestly say that I am glad that I took the time to watch it. It flowed perfectly, the acting was flawless and the CG was on point. While yes, there are some spots that made me go “Eh,” those were definitely overshadowed by the wonderful feelings that the story evoked. I truly felt myself drawn in, attached to the characters and the outcomes. I was overwhelmed by the beautiful colors, but also the way it was all laid out. There was not a moment that I wasn’t smiling, or laughing or even tearing up. I also want to say that there is one point that I didn’t make in the run down above. I left it out on purpose because I want you to feel how I felt when it came to light in the story. It broke my heart and made me feel such empathy towards BFG at that moment.

Do I suggest this story? Yes. I would suggest it to anyone. I feel that sharing this movie with everyone, children included shows what it is like to not only be bullied, but doing what is right. It is facing your fears and being good in the face of adversity. While some might not see it that way, it is what I get out of it and well, not to be rude, it is my review. 😛 *laughs*

So yes, I loved this movie and will watch it again. And I suggest you do the same.